


Of Beasts and Men

by Myra_Calloway



Category: Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Genre: F/M, M/M, SO, fair warning on that, girl on the island fic, i do plan to get quite dark with this, jack is a definite asshole, no beta we die like men, ralph is kind of an asshole, roger is a creeper, simon has a larger part in this fic because i said so, there will be fucking in due time, will add on tags and warnings as i go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:02:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29598714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myra_Calloway/pseuds/Myra_Calloway
Summary: When Elsie's plane crashes next to an island, she's trapped with an island of boys and seemingly none of her own female classmates. Trying to keep up the spirits of both herself and the children there, Elsie soon feels pulled between two boys vying to control the group - and notably, her.
Kudos: 4





	Of Beasts and Men

Elsie’s eyes creaked open and three things were immediately apparent to her: firstly, there was the grit of sand poking against her face where she lay down; secondly, there was the roar of the ocean, somewhere near her, as it rolled up onto the sand; thirdly, there was a burning pain in her arms and legs. Suddenly, it came back to her.

_________

She had woken up earlier from the freeze of the water. Elsie’d gone under while she was unconscious and was so disoriented that she almost couldn’t tell which way was up. When she had finally surfaced, she’d seen a young boy bobbing in the water a few feet away from her.

She had paddled around large sheets of metal and suitcases floating on the top of the water. As she paddled toward him, she caught sight of land; an island poking out of the blinding light of the sea, green and lush and safe. And not too far away! Elsie could grab the boy and make it there with him in no time, she assured herself. As she swam her way to his side, she noticed he was actually floating on top of a piece of metal, clinging to it with his knuckles stark white. He had a birthmark on his forehead, the color of mulberries, and his eyes lit up when he noticed her.

“Help me! Please miss!” he cried out, his voice high and thin. She latched onto the metal with him. It was bolted across the middle, and while the paint colors were dulled she could still make out the beginning of a word: ‘Ai’.

________

Oh dear god, the plane. She shot up on her arms before immediately falling back down in the sand. Her biceps burned and she looked around for the boy, sitting cross-legged in the sand. More prepared this time, she finally stood up and walked over to the boy, crouching beside him. He was drawing in the sand with a stick he’d found, a crude picture of a dog with a collar.

“This is my dog, his name is Collin,” he told her, pointing at the drawing with a stick. When he looked up at Elsie there were tears in his eyes, and his lip wobbled a little. “Where are we? You were on the plane right?”

She had been; Elsie’s all-girls academy having been scheduled to evacuate. She was in the last group scheduled. There hadn’t been enough seats on the plane though, and along with four of your classmates, she’d been shuffled into a plane hosting a group of schoolboys around her age. Now the plane was scrap in the ocean and sand was digging into the sock of her left foot, which was somehow shoeless.

“Yes, I was. How are you feeling dear?” she asked as she started to look at his arms and legs for bruises and cuts. He frowned and lifted up his sleeve to reveal a purpling bruise on his shoulder. “Okay, that doesn’t look too bad, yeah? We should walk around, see if anything’s washed up. And there’s no way we’re the only survivors.” Elsie muttered the last part, almost to herself, but the child beamed up at her again.

“What about Davie?” he asked, and she looked at him perplexed. “Davie is my best friend. He was on the plane next to me.” Elsie shook her head and stood back up.

“I didn’t see him near you when I was in the water, but I promise we will find him,” she said sternly as she offered him her hand. He took it and started dusting off the back of his ripped pants. They both started walking along the beach, the boy shouting for Dave at intervals, and she herself yelling vaguely for anyone that might be in earshot. After about ten minutes of walking, she noticed a boy running towards her from the far side of the beach.

“Hey!” she yelled excitedly and started running towards him as well, only to stop and hoist the boy upon her back. He was half her height, there was no way he was keeping up without her help. The two of them met in the middle. Now that they were close, she could make out his features. Elsie had never met someone who could be described as sun-kissed before, and yet he was: tanned, with ocean blue eyes smiling down at her, framed by golden curls. He held a large shell in his hands and catching up to the three of them was a heavy-set boy with glasses.

“I am so glad to see more people. For a moment we were worried it might just be me and Piggy!” He let out a worried chuckle at the end of his statement. The boy beside him glowered.

“I asked you – quite pointedly, actually – not to call me that,” he said, his tone asinine.

“Yes, but you didn’t give me your real name, now did you? ‘Piggy’ is all I have to call you!” he started, gesturing emphatically. Piggy started to explain, but the taller boy interrupted him almost immediately. “Anyway, are the both of you alright? I was surprised that Piggy and I were unscathed.” Piggy was still glaring at the boy from where he was standing at his side. Elsie waited before answering the boy, wanting to give Piggy a chance to give his name.

“ . . . My name is George, Ralph. It’s George,” he said dryly. Elsie stuck out her hand to shake with the boys. Piggy’s grip was clammy against hers, and he had a kind smile as she introduced herself.

“I’m guessing you’re Ralph then?” Elsie stated as you shook his hand. Both of the boys looked to be older teenagers, around her own age of eighteen. A smaller hand shot up around the boys’.

“My name is Peter!” the boy beside her interjected. Both Ralph and Piggy shook hands with him.

“Well, I think it’s likely that there are more of us on this island, still alive. I say we should patrol around the beach once or so and then make a campfire in case planes come by.” Piggy continued to lay out an organized plan of action. Ralph eyed the shell and suddenly pulled it up to his face, blowing through it. Elsie covered her ears, the volume of the shell’s call too loud to be so close to. Piggy sighed.

“That actually might help in getting people’s attention. I wish you hadn’t interrupted me to do it, but that’s not such a bad idea Ralph,” Piggy admonished. The four of them decided to stay in that area, in case other people had heard. There was a patch of shade relatively close, that Elsie had dragged a mid-size log to with Piggy’s help. Peter had plopped down on it as soon as it was in the shade, setting down a small bundle of sticks and citing that he was too tired to go on. Elsie shared a knowing look with Piggy and sat down beside him. Ralph had begun to set up a small circle of stones for fire-building purposes.

Peter jumped up and started excitedly pointing at something. A group of darkly dressed boys came stumbling out of the flora a few yards down the beach. Most of them were taller, but there were a couple of shorter - likely younger - boys accompanying them. Peter put his hands around his mouth and shouted out, “Davie?” One of the shorter boys perked up and started booking it across the sand. The others continued their more dignified march towards the shade.

Davie slammed into Peter, both boys giggling and shouting as they were reunited. Elsie chuckled lightly at the sight. The boys in black were still only about halfway to the shade, and Elsie blew her chestnut bangs out of her eyes. She elbowed Ralph. “Do you think we should just meet them partway? I feel like it would be more time-efficient,” she muttered. Ralph barked out a laugh, smiling down at her. She hadn’t exactly been joking, but his laugh was clear and she could feel her cheeks heating.

“I don’t see why we would, we’d just have to walk back here. If they want to be pretentious and march over, that’s their prerogative,” Piggy stated, trying to rub a spot out of his glasses.

When the boys finally had made their way over to the shade, the tallest of them asserted himself at the front. He had an expression that was probably a genuine attempt at inviting, but his mouth was still quirked in a smirk that was far too self-congratulatory.

“Hello, my name is Jack Merridew,” he began. “These are my fellow members of the choir. I’m somewhat of a leader to them.” Elsie felt one of her eyebrows quirk up sarcastically. She didn’t want to have an attitude about this guy so early, but he did seem to be an asshole. “And who are you lot?”

Piggy stepped forward to introduce himself, but Ralph beat him to it. “I’m Ralph, and this here is Piggy,” he almost seemed to pause to give Jack time to cackle at Piggy’s nickname. He placed a hand on Elsie’s shoulder and pulled her out from behind Piggy. “And this here is Essie. We met her a few minutes ago with Peter back there.” Jack’s eyes zeroed in on Elsie, as though just noticing her. He grinned, his pronounced canines visible behind his lips, seeming almost predatory, wolf-like. His face was also very angular, with high cheekbones. Freckles splattered across the bridge of his nose, and a mop of wavy auburn hair poked out from along the brim of the cap he was wearing. He held his hand out to shake hers, and she obliged. His hand was cold and soft, and the grip was bruising.

“A pleasure,” he said. Elsie felt trapped by how direct his eye contact had been since she was introduced. It was too domineering, uncomfortable. Thankfully a second boy stepped out of the group and introduced himself. Curly dark hair peeped out of his cap to brush against his forehead, and his eyes were an animated honey brown. He offered Ralph his own hand and introduced himself as Simon.

Ralph clapped loudly and gestured towards the shade and the log that had been serving as a bench. “Well, seeing as our plane is in the water and I don’t see anyone else coming along, I think we should all just take a seat and try to figure out what we’re going to do as we wait to be rescued,” he stated, an enigmatic smile on his face. The boys in cloaks shuffled under the shade. David and Peter were already seated on the bench, and Elsie plopped down next to them. Simon smiled at her and nodded at the space left over on the log. Elsie patted the bark and Simon quickly joined her.

Some boys were shucking off their cloaks to sit on as a barrier to the sand. Piggy was standing in the front of the group, where Ralph and Jack had moved up to. All of the boys were chattering amongst themselves, sitting in groups of two and three. A loud rustling started behind everyone, and Elsie whipped around in her seat just in time to watch as another ten or so boys, without cloaks, stepped out of the waxy green leaves onto the sand. Disappointed that there was still not a single one of her classmates with them, Elsie could feel herself deflate just a little where she sat.

“Well,” Ralph called from the front as the newer boys looked around the group. Some of the boys were already heading towards their friends in the choir. “Go ahead, find a place to sit, we’re just about to get started.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I gave Piggy a name, idc idc Golding did him dirty by not giving him a real name. For my later purposes, most of the boys are aged up to eighteen or seventeen. Please do let me know what you think so far, and happy reading!


End file.
